Piceno is an area that vaunts great creativity, artistic skills, tradition, and technical and aesthetic experimentation.

For centuries, inland areas above all, within the medieval walls of villages or in countryside hamlets, domestic manufacturing, stores and small workshops flourished, mainly flanking crop and sheep farming, typical of this area and an integral part of its ancient culture.

This is how the figure of the artisan developed, quickly becoming established in the small hill and mountain villages as a producer of household items, repairing tools and implements, and in many cases also inventing and creating precious artworks of refined beauty.

So over the centuries every village has built its identity on a specific craft skill that evolved in history for a variety of reasons: the availability of specific raw materials, technical skills learned from master artisans or eminent artists who lived in the area and who were able to cross-fertilize, spread and pass down their know-how, and generally the integration of the craft with the needs of local everyday life in relation to what is known to be the meeting point between demand and offer.

In Force and Comunanza, the art of copper forging; bobbin lace in Offida; crafting of travertine in Acquasanta Terme; manufacture and decoration of pottery, straw weaving and production of woven artefacts in totally natural materials is typical of Acquaviva Picena; woodworking and decoration are found especially in Amandola. Then there is goldsmithing, common in Piceno starting with Ascoli and the main Marche towns from the 15th century.

In Piceno, artisanal tradition lives on and continues to renew itself. Now, more than ever, it is able to show added value deriving from the ability to transmit and produce art through human hands, working to achieve excellence, concrete evidence of a way to design, produce and organize the work that belongs to the past only in that it preserves the importance of the quest for quality and beauty typical of the past.

Getting to know Piceno craft workshops and their master artisans is an excellent opportunity not only for exploring rich, fascinating pages of material history and culture, but also of engaging with a world of creativity that has travelled from ancient to contemporary times, without ever losing its identity, its colour and its artistic conviction.

Watch the video of Piceno Creative Land

Photo Gallery

Travertine handicraft

(artisan Annibale Poli – Acquasanta Terme, Paggese)

Copper handicraft

(artisan Tanucci – Comunanza)

 Straw handicraft

(artisans – Acquaviva Picena)

Pillow lace handicraft

(artisans – Offida)

Wood handicraft, restoration work and gilding 

(artisan Tonelli – Ripatransone)